As for varieties, where do you live may affects the quality of the fruit.
People often mention varieties such as Honey Jar, Sugar Cane, Sihong, Li, etc.
Chinese Red Date Orchard offers several newer varieties. Growers like @jujubemulberry, @castanea, @tonyOmahaz5, @BobVance have more experience growing jujubes and grow a lot of varieties. Hopefully, they will give you advice.
I just cleft grafted 5 Sandia jujube scions of Dr Yao favorite. Also cleft grafted 5 Halina of Harbin favorite. I will update the taste test in a few years.
For a first time grower I would suggest you try Honeyjar, Sugar Cane, Li and Chico. I can’t recommend a nursery now because the availability of jujube trees varies widely every year.
i agree with @tonyOmahaz5, @mamuang and @castanea. Honey jar is probably the most productive(regardless of location) and one of the most preferred varieties that also happens to be readily available in most nurseries, so would be good to start with that.
In terms of trees, I echo Honey Jar and Sugar Cane. For a more full answer, see:
Yes, I think that (a bit late for bare root) is why SuongJim is looking at EL and RE. I hadn’t seen RE before, but I just took a look and wow is it pricey. $150 for a 7gal Honey Jar. EL has 7 gal for $90, which is already almost double the cost of bare roots. If they are large mature trees, it could be worth it, but I’ve never ordered from them before. The one time I ordered from EL, I got a couple bare roots, so I don’t have any experience with their potted trees either.
I took a quick look and Trees of Antiquity does still have bare root Li and Burnt Ridge has So/Contorted, so there are still a few out there.
I’m interested to hear how it does for you. It is supposed to be late season with excellent eating quality, according to NM states site:
Recent importation from China. Medium sized round fruit. Crispy texture, excellent fresh eating quality. Near maturity, it has light brown patches first before the red / brown color. More primary shoots with curly leaves than most cultivars, but fewer than sugarcane. Has some similarities with Dongzao (Winter jujube, very late in season, most popular fresh eating cultivar in China). Limited information in the U.S.
For @Suong.lim, late season jujube like Sandria may not be an issue. It will be for me if I plant it in ground.
Suong Lim, if you are not in a rush, I would say you can read up info about jujubes and get ready to order bare root trees this fall (to be shipped to you next spring). Otherwise, you will spend a lot more money than necessary.
Also, from what I read, I would not want to order So/Contorted from Burnt Ridge. By all accounts, it is not the same So/Contorted offered by EL. The tree from BR is not as contorted and the fruit is not as tasty.
Sure will Bob. I did quite a few jujube grafts in the last few days for trial also Like, New Jin #4, Zao Cui Wang, Vegas Booty & Baby, and Zhan Hua 2nd Generation Winter Delight… I am in jujube heaven!
burntridge’s contorted has smaller fruits and a bit coarse. The two common types being sold by various nurseries as contorted also produce viable seeds, and just between me and @k8tpayaso, we’ll soon be sharing budwood of ‘subcultivars’ of contorted that we’ve grown from seeds. Possible that some nurseries are doing the same as well.
Tony,
I definitely would like to hear from you if any late ripening varieties like Sandria and Winter Delight will ripen in time for you. If they do, it will give me hope.
Raf,
My Contorted is 4 yr old from Burnt Ridge. The tree form is not great. It is contorted but all branches come from only one side. It looks quite imbalanced. Fruit was small and unimpressive. I may remove it.
The gentleman that swapped Sandia jujube with me stated even the fruit at green stage it is real sweet, juicy, larger than Honey Jar, and crunchy. He liked it better than Honey Jar and said this Sandia is a new Honey Jar. I hoped he is right. I grafted 5 Sandia scions on 5 large 3 years old Honey Jar seedlings.
I was there yesterday picking up some Persimmons. The jujubes look great. I’m picking up a Contorted, Honey Jar, Sugar Cane and Li when they are ready in June.
When I was at Dr Yao’s workshop, her So’s were different from mine. Hers produced 2 sizes of fruit on ea tree, with the larger fruit being tasty, the smaller mediocre. My So come from R Meyer and Edible Landscaping.
Dr Yao mentioned she was mapping genomes of jujubees, and she’d just received wood from England’s. Should be interesting results soon.